The idea of holy orders has been attractive to me as a vocation since at least the first grade (I went as a priest for "Who do you want to be when you grow up? day").

As a child, I played "church." We prayed, sang hymns, had communion and I gave the sermon. It may be worth mentioning that, while dogs have no objection to being baptized, it is really difficult to baptize cats.

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"If but ten of us lead a holy life, we shall kindle a fire which shall light up the entire city."

Orthodoxy first caught my interest when I started becoming more interested in Roman Catholicism and began reading spiritual and Patristic works. I encountered Orthodox believers on CAF, OC.net (here) and on a yahoo forum the name of which I forget. Timothy Ware's The Orthodox Church was probably my first book encounter of Orthodoxy. I read portions of it at the college library when yet an undergrad (about 2004) and shortly afterwards bought a copy (my sister borrowed it and has since reverted to Roman Catholicism; I need to get the book back from her). Early on, however, my real interest was in Byzantine Catholicism, not Orthodoxy per se. When I went to Ohio for grad work (2005-2007) I fell in with a group of Eastern and Eastern-minded Catholics. I learned about St. Gregory Palamas, St. Maximus the Confessor, Essence and Energies, Uncreated Grace, etc. I attended Divine Liturgy at a Ruthenian church for two years, considered making a change of sui iurus Church, but ultimately decided on becoming Orthodox.

It's funny, last year at our parish book discussion, my priest asked everyone about their first experience in an Orthodox church. Everyone else in the group spoke about their fascination at all the icons, the incense, the frequent signs of the cross, the antiquity, etc. When my turn came around, I said that my first exposure to Orthoodxy was different because much of what is in Orthodoxy I first experienced through Eastern Catholicism.

Oh I wouldn't call it quickly, the week after is simply when, as the OP put it, that my interest was caught; none-the-less I have often fancied (and perhaps I think too much of myself) that God took me up on that challenge. That was in March of '96. Within about two years, however, my first two Icons were up on the walls.

You can also find bookstores in many Orthodox Churches, most likely the medium sized to larger ones. You also can contact a parish and possibly see if they can find an icon for you or find an icon painter that can paint them for you.

When I was 14, I was in the hospital during Western Easter and one of the nurse's was a Khouria. After talking with her, I insisted on meeting her husband who happened to be dropping something off later that day. I think this is what started my initial love and interest in the Holy Orthodox Church. So, here I am, 7 years later and after so many, many details that I will not go into at this moment (I'm getting ready for bed)...I am being ready to be made a catechumen (once again!) and ready to immerse myself into the true faith that takes my very breath away!

It was 2003 I was RC and attended the Novus Ordo Mass then one Sunday on a trip out of town I went to a old Latin Mass. I began to question Catholicism after I saw what the Church had thrown away. I began looking for a Church that had held onto its traditions. I was watching a movie about rasputin one night during this and in the film it showed part of an Orthodox divine liturgy in a beautiful Church(it was supposed to be the tsars private chapel. And I began my search and study into Orthodoxy. (See TV aint all bad.)

I was searching for early church worship, and found that the Early Church itself still exists.

That's my answer too.

I first heard about it in March, was baptized in April, and the rest of my family was baptized last week. Is that some kind of record or what?

Now I'm looking into seminaries.

You shouldn't look into seminary for at least three years after living the Orthodox faith. In fact the major seminaries will tell you that the moment you turn your application in. Asking "is that some kind of record or what?" is just beyond words.

I read my post and chuckled until I realized I was the one who wrote it Yeah that was dumb.

I mean getting the whole family baptized fast, not going to seminary fast.

I was shopping in the book section at Goodwill when I came across a book about a Pentecostal pastor converting to the Roman Catholic church. As a Pentecostal this intrigued me immensely (I was used to hearing of conversions the other way around), so I bought it. At home I asked my husband for permission to read it (sort of joking). He chuckled and said, "Go ahead." I answered, "What if it rocks our world?"

And it did. I had heard of the Orthodox church before, vaguely (I knew where there was one). I read this book mentioned above and it just blew me away -- the history. I'd never, in my 23 years as a Protestant, ever heard of this history of the church. I understood that there was the New Testament, then things went awry or something, then everything got straightened out at the Reformation. That's it. I didn't see the need to know anymore ("God is doing a new thing" right?). It took me a few nights, but I finished this book -- and then turned to the Internet. I knew enough somehow to look at Orthodoxy over the Roman church (it was probably the pope thing). I spent an entire day glued to the computer, reading about Orthodoxy. I ordered several books from the library, including Gillquist's Becoming Orthodox among others. When that arrived, I devoured it.

The thing is, when dh and I have gotten antsy at church (and we were getting antsy at our current church), it was usually me that nudged and pushed for a change in the past. So with all that I was learning I purposed to NOT say anything to my husband. I didn't want it to be just another "me" thing; I didn't want to be the one to lead the way. Within days, my husband asked me which of the books about Orthodoxy that I'd read would I recommend. I gave him Gillquist's ... and while that book didn't speak to him like it did me, we were on our way. In the end (well, there is no end, is there? That's why this story is running long, LOL), it was my dh who jumped in feet first. We attended a service Dec. 24 last year, and then not again until late February or early March. Since late March we've only been attending our local Orthodox mission church; and we become catechumens two weeks ago.

So, since you've been a pentacostal, how do you find the Orthodox church? Do you feel like you are finally home, so to speak? You don't have to answer if don't want to I am just curious how other protestants converting find it comparatively.

Well, I guess I can say -- with just thinking about your question briefly -- that I feel *relieved* in a way. In Pentecostalism there is, to a degree, your feelings of faith (your experience of faith) being up to *you*. I constantly felt like I was falling short because I didn't speak in tongues a lot, or was not able to interpret dreams, or didn't see people healed when I laid hands on them, etc. Both my husband and I *do* still wonder about things like ---- well, for example about 10 months ago we were led to pray for a couple in our church who had been trying to have a baby for nine years (with no success). The day we prayed for them, in the church library as the service was still going on, I felt like God gave me a specific section of Scripture for them and I read it as we prayed. We all went back out to the service, and there was some praying and Scripture reading going on. One guy stood up and said, "I don't know why I'm supposed to read this, but I will ... " and it was the exact same Scripture I had just prayed over the couple. The couple looked back at us and there was a bit of whooping & hollering. They were pregnant within a month!! (and she's due on 8 weeks.) This type of thing is big in the charismatic experience. And while we know we are at home, now, and forever in the Orthodox church (and we LOVE the lack of spontaneity in the services, LOL) -- we wonder, still about stuff like this. Is there a place for this type of thing in Orthodoxy? What was that all about, if not genuinely God? These types of questions we still ask ourselves.

I understand your thinking. There is much to learn about the Orthodox church. I very much appreciate being part of the parish where I am; it is a very loving community. I don't like to miss going to church I look forward to it; this is not something I have felt for a very long time.

I'm not a convert to Orthodoxy nor am I considering it. However, I do have to say that I find many things Eastern to be very beautiful.1. The Liturgy of St. John2. Lenten traditions3. Icons4. Prostrations5. The Jesus Prayer, prayer rope, and spirituality surrounding it.6. The Eastern articulation of Sanctificaion/Justification: Theosis I became aware of all these things a few years ago through my interaction with ECs and EOs on the internet. There is much beauty in the East.

I was shopping in the book section at Goodwill when I came across a book about a Pentecostal pastor converting to the Roman Catholic church.

Could you please share the title of this book with us? It sounds like something some of us might really enjoy.

One of my best friends is Pentecostal (Assembly of God), and he has been very supportive of my move into Orthodoxy. We sort of "tore back the veil" together for eight years examining our respective Christian faiths, getting into everything from the study of the religions of the world to looking seriously at Theistic Satanism and other esoteric theosophical systems.

I have been hesitant to expose my friend to Orthodoxy too much. He has attended two services with me over the last year, but he has only recently started returning to his Pentecostal roots, and I feel like I should back off, be humble and silent, and simply let him take his own steps toward Christ. He is only just now really starting to take Christ seriously again, and so I think to pummel him with the necessity in becoming Orthodox would be completely pointless. If it ever happens with him, I think it might be decades down the road, and I have a feeling it will never be because of any argument I put forth. At any rate, I have peace about it, because I can see God healing and restoring him slowly, drawing him back to Himself. That might not fly with the "no grace outside the Church" crowd, but that's just how it is for now.

Anyway, glory to God for leading you toward the Church! I am glad to hear of your journey, and am even more glad to hear that your husband and you are in sync on the move. I have been attending services for over a year, and my wife still has very little interest in the Church, as she thinks it is nice but doesn't see any "necessity" in a switch. To her Orthodoxy is just another Christian group with its own interpretation of things. It seems as though perhaps she is making baby steps toward the Church, so for now I am postponing my own baptism in the hopes that she will come around, and that we can make the decision together.

I hope your catechumenate is a blessed period for the both of you. I hope it places a solid faith in you that withstands all obstacles!

The book was called No Price Too High: A Pentecostal Preacher becomes Catholic by Alex Jones. I don't recall that in the book he spoke of Orthodoxy at all; I can't remember if he addressed why he chose Catholicism over Orthodoxy (he may not have been aware of the Orthodox church).

The book was called No Price Too High: A Pentecostal Preacher becomes Catholic by Alex Jones. I don't recall that in the book he spoke of Orthodoxy at all; I can't remember if he addressed why he chose Catholicism over Orthodoxy (he may not have been aware of the Orthodox church).

I had heard of the Orthodox church, in a vague way ... and an Orthodox mission church had started in our town about a year previously. I remember arriving home, afte I'd seen the sign go up, and telling my husband about it. I knew RC and Orthodoxy were "similar" (liturgical) and I knew I didn't think the papacy was something I could ever get behind. It was all new to me (I'd never known before what Roman Catholicism really was - let alone Orthodoxy), but I think because I'd been intrigued by Orthodoxy a tiny bit previously I decided to read about *it* online instead of Catholicism. Once I read about the conciliar nature of the church, and of the history, I was definitely wanting to know more. Once I saw the timeline that's out there -- Gillquist has one in his book -- of the history of the church, of how there were these multitudes of branches called Protestantism in the later history of the church, but that there was still this unbroken line of the "one, holy, catholic and apostolic church" going from the NT until now, I asked myself, "Why would I not want to be a part of this church, if it still exists?" Denominationalism had always bothered me, and I never knew there was an escape.

Another book I read early on was Evangelical is Not Enough by Thomas Howard. I thought this was a really, really good book for an evangelical searching for the "more" God planned. When he first wrote that, from what I understand, he hadn't made a switch yet -- but he eventually chose Catholicism over Orthodoxy, too (again, from what I understand). He *did* mention Orthodoxy in his book.

My parents returned to the Catholic faith after "falling away" for a few years back in 1984. There's a lot of stuff associated with it, not all of which I want to regurgitate here. But as a result, I became an active Mass-going Catholic as well, and exposed to a pre-Vatican II understanding of the Catholic theology and sacraments. We used a catechism similar to the Baltimore, and one of the sections was on the Orthodox and the validity (or "grace", if you prefer) of their sacraments - and that under very limited circumstances it was legitimate to seek out an Orthodox priest. One extreme example it cited - you're dying, there's no Catholic priest available for confession.

Anyway, it is now late August 1984 - which in the Julian calendar was the eve before the first Sunday after Dormition. We were in Orlando Florida on vacation, and one of those catechism scenarios came up. We couldn't find a local Catholic parish nearby our hotel. There was however a Ukrainian Orthodox parish, so a decision was made to attend the Divine Liturgy on Sunday. The thinking was - if you can't honour the Lord's day in a Catholic church, honour it by attending a church whose sacraments that Catholics recognize, even though it is outside its communion. (Receiving communion was out of the question). So, to get service times, we arrived the evening before and caught the tail end of Vespers.

The church itself (which I'm not even sure exists today) - I think - was affiliated with Constantinople - there was a picture of the patriarch in the lobby. There was also an icon and book store which we visited the next day. The actual liturgy was entirely in Ukrainian and I was completely lost. My mom remembers that the priest let out a complaint in his sermon that people should bring flowers NOT plants to honour the Dormition. This was the first time I became familiar with the Orthodox feast of the Dormition which has a lot more in it than simply honouring the Assumption of Mary. (Oddly enough, I came across a reference to Pius XII who said that St. John of Damascus - a.k.a. "The Doctor of the Assumption" - was the best source for what the Catholic Church believes on this).

We talked to the priest briefly the night before after Vespers, explained the situation, and he explained a little about the theology of icons to the visiting Catholics. I do recall him saying that Theotokos icons always point to Jesus - they are always Christological. This was the first time I came across "Theotokos" which meant literally "god-bearer", or more roughly "Mother of God". This has always stuck with me. He did welcome us to come the next day which we did.

Anyway, the Sunday we picked up some mementos, a Dormition icon and five St. Vladimir's seminary books on early (Eastern) Church fathers. The priest was nice enough on Sunday to go back to the vestment closet for a blessing of the picture, which hangs in the hallway to this day of my parent's apartment.

These are not great pictures but they are evidence of that day.

I didn't really develop an understanding of the liturgy until a few years later attending a Ukraininian CATHOLIC liturgy as part of an event that an ultra-traditionalist "Fatimist" had organized in London, Ontario. Because it was in English, I understood what was going on, and remember it much more clearly than the Orlando experience. My thought at the time, "why aren't the Latin-rite liturgies more like this?" Numerous prayers and references to the Holy trinity.

Interestingly enough, the second time I have ever been to an Orthodox service was Dormition Vespers in 2009 at a local Greek parish. I'm not really sure how late I would like to be for work tomorrow, but the same parish (most probably) will have yet another large communal mid-week Great Feast. I will probably drop in.

Where do I begin? I guess I first heard of Orthodoxy in my Catholic School religion class. The Orthodox left the Roman Catholic Church, I was told. I didn't think much about it until I went to a Pascha service with a Greek friend of mine and had a chance to talk with the Father who told me the RCC broke away from Orthodoxy. This challenged me to find out the truth, which ultimately led me to the True Church.

« Last Edit: September 11, 2009, 01:27:27 AM by EVOO »

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“When I have a little money I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes.” - Erasmus

"God became man so that man might become a god." ~St. Athanasius the Great

well i assure you he's not angry and scared -- his preaching has brought tons of students into the Church just in the past 4 yrs ive been around, and others converted before me, and there's more who are looking into it now. i learned more from him than any PSU professor

Small world, my sister was just telling me about a friend of hers who also converted thanks to this guy.

This is an interesting question. I think for me it was Pascha night vigil of 2006. I was at a little Greek chapel w/ my then-fiance (now husband) who is a cradle Orthodox. Maybe hard to visualize but I felt struck by how happy and loud everybody was, like they were actually celebrating the event. All the yelling 'Christos anestei' and all. I never saw that as a RC. I thought there was something to be explored there.

This is an open question to all converts and catechumens: what was the catalyst that first set you consciously on the path to Orthodoxy? Was it a person, an experience, a train of thought, a book? Were you aware of "looking for something" or did it happen unexpectedly?

Well, I'm no longer Orthodox, but it's interesting to think back on those times when I first discovered Orthodoxy. I had briefly been at one of my denomination's colleges, and had decided within months of arriving there that I couldn't be a fundamentalist anymore. This happened partially through reading and thinking about issues like scripture alone, inerrancy, the place of judging persons, faith alone, etc. However, some discussions at an online forum called theologyonline.com also played a significant part, and were what really allowed me to work things out in my head. Don't let anyone tell you that discussions on these forums never change anyone's mind--they changed my entire life. There's a chance that I might be a Wesleyan Holiness minister right now if it had not been for online discussions.

When I returned home from college after school let out, I had no idea what I believed as far as religious beliefs. At first, thinking that conservative fundamentalism didn't work, I thought I'd give the opposite end of the spectrum a shot. After read books by people like Marcus Borg and others, though, I decided that I couldn't at that time embrace that liberal form of spirituality either. I had rejected certain doctrines held by certain conservative denominations, and I even had come to the point where I questioned the existence of God to some degree, but I still held to a generally conservative world view for the most part.

Unfortunately, all I knew at the time was Protestantism (Lutherans, Calvinists, etc.), Anglicanism, and Catholicism. So I did what any geek would do when he had a problem in the year 2000: I looked on the internet for an answer. Specifically, I was looking for some conservative form of Christianity that I had, to that point, been unaware of. It wasn't long before I found out about Orthodoxy. Of course, one could argue that Orthodoxy is traditional and not conservative per se, but that's a discussion for another time; the point is, at the time, Orthodoxy seemed to be the possible solution that I was looking for.

It's sort of funny that I had never heard of Orthodoxy before. I grew up in a town of a few thousand people for most of my youth. There was an OCA Church in town, and also a Greek Catholic Church. I had walked past the OCA many times over the years, as it was on one of the streets that I took to get to one of the basketball courts I went to. Yet I had never really taken notice of Orthodoxy or Eastern Christianity. I had seen people doing processions outside the OCA Church, and still I had never noticed what exactly it was! I guess to me, as a kid and teenager, it was just another Church. Whenever I discovered Orthodoxy, though, that OCA Church was the first one I attended.

So anyway, that's how I first came into contact with Orthodoxy. As probably with most people, so to with me, the conversion process is a whole story by itself. And in my case, I actually left off pursuing Orthodoxy for a while and had to refind the Orthodox Church in some sense.

After read books by people like Marcus Borg and others, though, I decided that I couldn't at that time embrace that liberal form of spirituality either.

Borg really does have some interesting ideas, at least based upon the material I have read. A few years ago I read Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith, and I found a lot of it to be absolutely eye opening. I was reading it on the coattails of a lot of 'higher' biblical criticism, and he really helped to paint a vivid picture of the 'post-critical' Jesus Christ, one where we understand that our conceptions of him are in most ways constructed and imposed, and how to deal with that and still try to engage Christ in a spiritual relationship. I still think that his honesty and level of reflection are bold and admirable in many ways, but ultimately to me this view of Christ was deficient and hollow. I just couldn't stomach creating my own Christ if I was going to serve him.

Only years later when I stumbled into Orthodoxy did I really find what I was looking for: a faith that is delivered; handed down from the heavens. (At least in theory! )

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[T]he central issue of the Christian life is not believing in God or believing in the Bible. Rather, the Christian life is about entering into a relationship with that to which the Christian tradition points, which may be spoken of as God, the risen, living Christ, or the Spirit. And a Christian is one who lives out his or her relationship to God within the framework of the Christian tradition.

I suppose that Thomas Merton and Metropolitan Kallistos would have to share credit in this department. Merton's poetry led me to "No Man Is An Island" and "The Monastic Journey" (among others...). Being raised in a non-denominational church of the Stone-Campbell restoration movement, I really had no understanding of monasticism and so I found his writings very intriguing. He really opened my closed mind to a liturgical church. And I suppose it was about 4 years ago that I picked up "The Orthodox Way" at a book sale for $1 and it spent the next 3 years on one of my book shelves. That is until a friend of mine moved into a house a block from an Orthodox Cathedral and every time I went to his house I had to drive past this church and it would remind me that I had a book about Orthodoxy that I hadn't read yet. Mysterious Ways as they say....

I had sporadic contact with Orthodoxy from my senior year in college till about 1975, at which point I read (or maybe re-read) Ernst Benz's The Eastern Orthodox Church: Its Faith and Life. Reading that book when the Episcopal Church (of which I was then a member) was about to go through a gut-wrenching series of changes that is still ongoing, piqued my interest.

I began to read other books about Orthodoxy as the Episcopalian paradigm-shift continued apace, then, I came across Jacques Ellul's The Subversion of Christianity, which really opened my eyes to the lugubrious state of the Western Church. The more the Episcopalians seemed ready to throw off any pretext of maintaining more than a veneer of Christian tradition, the more I turned Eastward, and in 1992, I finally made the jump.

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The end of the world is as near as the day of your death;watch and pray.

The idea of holy orders has been attractive to me as a vocation since at least the first grade (I went as a priest for "Who do you want to be when you grow up? day").

As a child, I played "church." We prayed, sang hymns, had communion and I gave the sermon. It may be worth mentioning that, while dogs have no objection to being baptized, it is really difficult to baptize cats.